Merchant of The World
by Dark Honors
Summary: A player who considers himself unbeatable quickly finds that he made a mistake in the past. A trap is set, the line is cast, and Mori quickly accepts the bait. It all seems like a fluke at first, but things quickly get worse... (Rating should be acurate)
1. Setting the Bait

I did not write nor do I own ANY of the .hack novels, animes, or offspring content. I did however write the following fanfic.  
I also wish to inform the reader that this is my first fanfic, and first posting on I'm still unsure how to format things they way I want them.

**Chapter 1**

**Setting The Bait**

Mori stood quietly, overlooking the waterway that passed through Mac Anu. He rarely trained anymore, more interested in collecting rare items for trading. Mori considered himself a traveling merchant of sorts. He had become widely known in the world for being able to retrieve nearly any item, if not by trade, then by working endlessly. It all came at a price though, the harder the item was to get, the more it cost, items or money.

_Ding... _Finally, someone was requesting his services! Would it be someone looking for rare, hard to find items? Perhaps it was someone trapped in a dungeon that needed potions and antidotes. Whatever was wanted, Mori would deliver, no matter what level the field was, no matter how long it took him.

Subject: Requesting immediate help!  
Sender: Qweron

Field: _xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx  
_Mori, I require your immediate help!  
I require the items listed below.  
1) 25 healing elixirs  
2) 10 of each recovery item  
I am willing to trade numerous rare items in exchange,  
and I also have a near limitless amount of currency.  
Please Hurry!

Mori sighed, another player needing items that were worth nothing. He gathered the requested items quickly and gated to the field.

"I hate darkness fields." He grumbled, "_Ap Do_!" He cast the speed charm, quickly rushing through the field to the dungeon. He pulled a fairies orb from his inventory, looking for the path that was already cleared. Once the orb had finished revealing the dungeon he rushed to the lower level.

"Why can't these idiots bring enough of what they need? I'm tired of doing these low paying runs." He once again revealed the map, finding the player hadn't continued past this level of the dungeon. Once again he took off at full speed, quickly finding the player.

"Thank you for coming so quick, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to continue on without this stuff." Qweron seemed to be hiding something, and wasn't doing a very good job of it. The trade request came and Mori offered the items. "What do you want for your services? I only have a couple dozen Silver Scarabs."

"I thought you had more. Fine, just give me those; at least I'll get a bit of money." It wasn't even three seconds once the trade was completed that Mori was surrounded by Qwerons' party members. "Damn it. How many times do I have to tell people? Don't ever try to trick me." He quickly drew his blade and took defensive position.

"You really think you can take all of us at once? You're really stupid for coming on your own." The three blademasters pulled their blades and started the attack on Mori. It seemed like Mori might actually lose a battle, though looks could be deceiving. Mori defended himself effortlessly, his strength and defense seeming much too high for his level.

"You really think a rare merchant wouldn't use every skill enhancing item he came across?" Mori wasn't even attacking them yet, just defending. He then uttered something, which the others could not hear, his blade releasing a pulse of energy an instant before he went into a berserk-type attack. His blade hit the three numerous times, at what seemed impossibly high damage levels. Once his attack had finished the three dropped to their knees.

"You… You're…. A hacker… You mu-must be." His character finally faded to grey, then vanished into the surroundings.

"No… Not a hacker, just full of rares." Mori pulled a sprite ocarina from his inventory and gated to the field. "Players are beginning to become predictable." He returned to Mac Anu, then logged out…

Subject: Do you do dungeon escorts?  
Sender: Kirian

Field: _xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx_  
Hiya! I heard there is a really good item at  
the bottom of this dungeon. I know your information  
says you're a merchant, but I am willing to give you  
a lot of aromatic grass and a special event item I won.  
If you can please help, please meet me tomorrow at  
xx:xx in Lia Fail. Thanks!

Mori read his E-mails, deleting the worthless offers. Out of all the e-mails, only one seemed worthwhile, and he knew someone who traded currency for treasures. He copied down the field keywords and logged in.

"Mori! Where've you been?" A rather short twinblade called to him. He quickly ran to Mori's side, having to walk quickly to keep up. He was indeed a unique character; someone had hacked him and changed his size, as a joke, the administrators refused to fix it.

"Around… I'm actually about to help a player get through a dungeon so she can open a special Gott Statue." Mori made a short stop at the items shop, selling off all of the silver scarabs he had been given. "Whatcha need Yuzi? I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Oh… Uhh, nothing. I was wondering if I could come with you." Yuzi looked rather goofy next to Mori, the two seeming to be complete opposites. "I need a bit of training, and I know you go to a lot of high level dungeons."

"Fine, but only if you try your best not to die, I want to make this trip go quickly." Mori invited him to his party and proceeded to the chaos gate. "See you in Lia Fail." He then disappeared within the golden rings, Yuzi quick to follow. Once both were in Lia Fail, Mori invited Kirian to the party.

"Hello Mori-san! I really want to thank you for-…" the wavemaster, Kirian, was cut off abruptly.

"Don't worry about talking. The only reason I agreed to help you is because I am quickly growing bored with the tasks people are asking of me." Mori spoke the keywords to the gate and the three vanished within golden rings. Once in the field Mori used quite a few stat increasing potions and together they entered the dungeon…

"Yuzi damn it! Get your act together and heal me!" Mori was having difficulty in fighting the monsters in this dungeon. His HP had dropped to almost nothing, he could rarely hit the monster, and he was all out of healing items.

"Pha Repth!" Yuzi healed Mori just in time, having to quickly dodge an attack made by one of the monsters. "I thought this dungeon was a lower level than you!"

"It is! I never should have come here!" Mori quickly used a revive on Kirian, blocking another attack, and answering it with one of his weaker skills. "Kirian! Who the hell told you about this place? This dungeon is ed up!" Mori finally managed to finish off the one he had been fighting, leaving just one more in this room.

"I… I don't know! I got an E-mail from someone and it was all messed up, like it was corrupted or something." She screamed loudly, her character once again being replaced by a ghostly figure. This time Yuzi quickly revived her, running away at high speed to avoid being attacked.

"You two stay back, just keep healing me otherwise we're all dead!" Mori took another hit, his HP now down half way. He quickly countered the attack, managing to hit the monster.

"BiVak Rom!" Fire engulfed the monster from the wavemasters spell. "Mori! Finish it off with one of your really powerful skills!" She cast Vak Rom this time, the spell much weaker, didn't even hurt it.

"Fine." Mori responded, beginning the skill. His blade released a pulse of energy, throwing Mori into a berserk-type attack, every hit landing, and finally killing it. Mori dropped to one knee, covered in digital blood. "Kirian, heal me."

"Sure thing." She got close to Yuzi and Mori, "Phal Repth!" The healing energy passed over all of them, restoring them to their full health. The three stood together, looking at the map of the dungeon. They were still only on the second level of the dungeon, with more than 3 levels remaining. A moment of silence passed, contemplating whether they should continue on. Without speaking, the three nodded and continued to the next floor of the dungeon…


	2. Welcome to my Game

I did not write nor do I own any of the .hack novels, series, or offspring content.  
Now to the reviews I have recieved so far, thank you! .  
Steeple333 - My first review, thank you. .  
Sargent Snarky - _ In posterum Sargent Snarky  
_crazianimegirl - Thank you for your ideas. . I am aware that my descriptions are a bit... Non existant? I will try to work on that in the future. I was trying to leave most of it to the imagination... Next chapter(Whenever i might finish it) I will try to place much more detail into the fights.

**Chapter 2**

**Welcome to my game**

In a small dark room, lit only by the light of a computer screen, sat a motionless boy. He seemed to be in a trance, motionless, barely breathing. His hands gripped a controller loosely, as if it were ready to drop. His eyes were hidden behind the silver neuro-visor. The computer screen in front of the boy was lit only by the words _'Welcome to my game…'_

"BiVak Rom!" Called Kirian one last time, flames engulfing, and finally killing the last of many monsters in this room. They had now reached the sixth level of the dungeon, and something seemed wrong.

"It's impossible; no dungeon can be this hard deep. It shows there's still another level on the map!" Mori leaned on his blade; this dungeon actually seemed to make him tired.

"I'm out of healing and SP replenishing items" Yuzi notified them after searching his inventory. The three sat down, leaning up against a wall. Yuzi spoke again, "We've had to be here for hours now, and don't seem to be making any progress."

Mori stood and grumbled, searching his inventory. Finally, he pulled out a sprite ocarina and held it to his chest. The golden rings came and went, but Mori remained, the dungeon exit hadn't taken him. "What the hell!" He looked to Yuzi, withdrew another ocarina and tried again. Again, there was no change, Mori just stood there, quiet, motionless.

"Wow. We must be so deep in the dungeon that exit items don't work. It's okay, we can just retrace our steps… Right?" Kirian smiled, looking from Mori to Yuzi.

"Actually. Unless I'm mistaken the door we came from didn't open after we finished off the last monster." Yuzi motioned to it, sighing quietly. "Why can't the staff just fix these problems, rather than releasing 'fixes'?" Yuzi got up, took out the map, and then looked to Mori.

"Don't say it, Yuzi. I know what you're thinking. Unless we come up with a really good strategy, there's no way in hell we'll be able to survive more than a couple more battles. I'll be right back." Mori made a move as if he was going to remove something from his head. His eyes widened and he tried again, a look of worry on his face. "Y-yuzi? Can you take of your headgear?

"Why wouldn't I be able to?" He then did the same thing as Mori, attempting it repeatedly, franticly. "What the hell! I can't get it off; I don't even think I'm actually really moving."

"You two are stupid. Just because you can't, doesn't mean I can't. I'll log and call the help line." She then sat still for a moment. After a short while her face shaped into a frown. "I can't access the log out menu. It's like it doesn't exist…" Kirian looked to Mori, and then lowered her head. "Sorry."

"Don't worry bout it…" He motioned for the others to follow, then entered the next dungeon room. A large portal quickly expanded, then became small, a single treasure chest taking its place. "Well, looks like we got lucky this time." Mori motioned for Yuzi to open the chest; he never liked to get stupid items.

"Awesome." Yuzi quickly moved forward, checking the chest for traps before opening it. Yuzis' eyes widened and he turned to look at Mori. "Wow… That's unusual, but… My inventory just filled up with revives and healing elixirs." He offered to give Mori a gift.

"Well, whatever's going on here, it's obviously ing with us." Mori accepted the trade, then offered a gift to Kirian, giving her half of what he received. "The least this place could have done was lift the profanity censor…" Yuzi rolled his eyes and walked to the next door.

"Shall we continue and see if we can find a way out?" He waited for the others to catch up, and then walked through the door. This room, thankfully, was empty, and the next door led down to the next dungeon level. They all exchanged looks, and walked downstairs.

"Oh my god! Look! There's someone else here!" Kirian quickly ran up to a person slouched against the wall. "Hey, you okay? Why are you just sitting there?" The wavemaster just sat there, eyes widened, repeating the same thing over and over.

"They're gone… It took them away from me." He didn't seem to notice the others, lost in his own little world. He was covered in digital blood, scorch marks covered his clothes.

"Forget it. It's probably just a broken NPC, there's no way a wavemaster could make it down here on his own." Mori walked over to the wavemaster, placed a foot on his shoulder, and pushed. The wavemaster fell over, then curled up, whimpering quietly. "P-please don't hurt me."

"Hey! What'd you do that for!" Kirian quickly helped the poor player back up, sitting him back against the wall. "You can come with us… We can help you look for your friends." She smiled weakly and offered a hand to him. The wavemaster stared at her for a moment then vanished amidst a cloud of pixels.

"Odd. It looks like Mori was right. He was probably just one of those famous wandering AIs… Interesting." Yuzi walked up to where the wavemaster once sat, looking to his companions. He looked around the room, tilting his head a bit. "Hey… It just me, or does this dungeon seem a bit… Weird?"

"What? Besides the fact that we are being held here against our will? Maybe it's the fact that the monsters are insanely strong. Could it be that we can't LEAVE?" Mori finished off with an angry yell. Yuzi cowered a bit then shook his head.

"No. I mean… I thought this dungeon was a shrine dungeon." Yuzi motioned around. "Doesn't this seem a bit… Odd?"

"Yeah, it looks… Darker." Kirian said after taking a quick look around.

"Whatever, it doesn't really matter. Let's just go and see if we can find something out." Mori sounded aggravated, making the others run after him as he continued into the next room. Once in the next room, a single enemy appeared from the portal. It wasn't normal though, it appeared to be a player character. It quickly withdrew two long swords and ran at the group.

"What the hell?" Mori yelled, quickly withdrawing his blade, having to work hard at blocking each hit. "Since when did monsters look or act like this?" He stumbled backwards, narrowly dodging another attack.

"I'll distract him!" Yuzi ran forward, slashing his blades at the new character at high speed, every hit doing minimal damage. It quickly turned on the small twinblade, turning the attack around and making the player dodge and block every hit.

"Kirian, keep us at full health, otherwise we'll all be turned into ghosts!" Mori managed to get a few high damage hits in on the enemy, only to have it turn its attack on him. Yuzis' blades glowed for a moment, then he went wild on the enemy, landing a few good hits, but getting killed in the process.

"Damn it! Don't die!" Mori used another revive on Yuzi, then quickly jumped away from another attack. Kirian stayed away from the fight, constantly trying weakening spells on the enemy, and healing her party. Mori held his blade straight out in front of him and began to spin at high speed, slashing away at the enemy like a top. His attack ended, a grin crossing his lips.

"Finally! It's HP is down enough!" He used his special attack, blade pulsing, then going berserk on the enemy, finally ending the battle. The monster turned grey, then vanished in a cloud of pixels. Everyone was covered by a short-lasting glow.

"Yay! Level up!" Kirian yelled,Yuzi smiled and replied with a single nod. Mori used a healing elixir on himself and walked to the next door of the dungeon.

"Don't get your hopes up yet. If we encounter another one or two of those, we might not get so lucky." The others sighed, then followed him through the door. The room they had just left pulsed a dark red energy, a shadowy figure visible for just a moment. Mori had a bad feeling at that moment, as if they were being watched… Followed…


End file.
